Depart Varanasi in the morning and head to the train station for your journey to Patna to board your Pandaw vessel. Relax onboard and meet your crew and fellow passengers for the next 14 nights.

Take a morning city tour of Patna, including a visit to The Golghar, a large stupa styled granary built in 1786. Sail downstream during lunch before arriving at Barh, famous for the Hindu ritual cremation at Urmanath and the Alakhnath Temple.

Stop at Mokama, once home to Jim Corbett the naturalist and protector of the Indian tigers. Surrounded by farmlands, Mokama has the second-highest production of lentils in the country. Learn about the freedom fighters from Mokama such as Lalldin Saheb, who during the freedom struggle was sentenced to jail during the British rule.

Munger is now a large and industrialized city but has an interesting history. In 1762, Mir Qasim, the Nawab of Bengal, shifted his capital from Murshidabad to Munger and established a firearms manufacturing center here. Explore the Mughal fort, and East India Company cemetery and step inside the Bihar School of Yoga founded in 1964 by Satyananda Saraswati. One of the leading yoga schools in the country. The institution has developed yogic techniques through a synthesis of traditional yogic, Vedantic, and tantric practices and contemporary health science.

Continue to Jahanigra Island, a place of pilgrimage with many rock carvings in high relief dating from the eighth century depicting aspects of Siva and Vishnu. In the evening moor off Sultanganj, with its pair of great granite rocks, one crowned with a mosque and the other a small temple dating from the 16th century. In the afternoon land at Bhaglapur, a center of silk production, and visit the 18th-century mansion of the Collector, Augustus Cleveland.

Passing the confluence of the Kosi river that flows down from Nepal, moor at the pretty town of Bateshwarsthan to uncover the 8th-century Buddhist site of Vikramshila, one of the two most important centers of learning in India during the Pala Empire, along with Nalanda.

Continue sailing along the Ganges before stopping at Rajmahal, a quaint town on the banks of the Ganges for an afternoon walk.

Depart Rajmahal and sail down to cross the Farakka barrage, entering the Hooghly River. In the afternoon take a gentle walk through a local village.

After breakfast, take a walk through the fields of the delightfully sleepy village of Baranagar to visit its three gorgeous miniature terracotta temples. This is rural India at its most idyllic. Visit the Jain temples at Azimganj before continuing the voyage downstream. In the afternoon, enjoy a city tour of Murshidabad, visiting the great Katra Mosque and Nashipara Palace before driving out to see the Katgola Palace. Built-in classical Georgian style by rich local merchants, Katgola Palace represents the other side of the coin of the 'White Mughal' period when English and Indian cultures came close to fusion.

This morning, walk to the Khushbagh, a peaceful Mughal-style garden that encloses the tombs of Siraj-ud-Daulah – the last independent Nawab of Bengal – and his family. Continue a little way upstream to where the great Hazarduari Palace dominates the waterfront. Built by an English architect in 1837, the palace hosts an extensive collection of pictures, china, weapons, and other objects. Continue sailing downstream in the afternoon with onboard activities and wildlife watching on the sun deck.

In the morning, visit the battlefield of Plassey where, in 1757, Robert Clive, the Commander-in-Chief of British India, defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, to change the course of Indian history. After lunch, continue downstream to the brass-working village of Matiari, a charming riverside village. Interact with the locals of Matiari and witness the whole primitive process of beating out brass water pots and other vessels.

Explore the village of Mayapur, the headquarters of the ISKCON movement with a new temple comparable in size to the Vatican and largely funded by Alfred B. Ford, the great-grandson of car maker Henry Ford. Meet Krishna followers and walk through the pilgrims’ bazaar.

After breakfast visit the country town of Kalna. Take rickshaws to see a group of some of Bengal’s most attractive terracotta temples, as well as the unique Shiva temple with concentric rings made up of 108 lesser shrines.

Continue sailing upstream to Chandernagore, a French possession until 1950. Visit the 18th-century church and Dupleix’s House, erstwhile Governor-General of French India. In the afternoon, sail toward Barrackpore and take a walk through the cantonment - past the Semaphore Tower, Government House, the Temple of Fame, and Flagstaff House. Enjoy a farewell dinner with your crew as you moor in Kolkata for the night.

After breakfast transfer to your hotel or airport for your onward journey.